cannabisnews.com: Study: Illegal Drug Use Up Sharply Study: Illegal Drug Use Up Sharply Posted by CN Staff on September 06, 2002 at 21:08:07 PT By Sumana Chatterjee Source: Associated Press Use of marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs increased sharply among young Americans last year, according to a government survey. The study also found increases in the nonmedical use of prescription painkillers and tranquilizers. Tobacco use declined.John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, attributed the increased marijuana use to "a fundamental misunderstanding" propagated by the baby boomer generation that marijuana is safe and should be legal. "We have sent the wrong message and we have to correct that," Walters said."Marijuana is not some harmless chemical toy but a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of all its users," said Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.The findings, contained in the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, are based on 70,000 interviews with people aged 12 and older.The percentage that said they were marijuana users jumped to 5.4 percent in 2001 from 4.8 percent in 2000. The numbers had held roughly steady between 1996 and 2000. Cocaine users jumped to 0.07 percent from 0.05 percent.The worrisome factor in the marijuana increase, according to Thompson, is a spurt in first-time users last year, most of them under 18. The number -- 2.4 million -- is down significantly from a 1977 peak of 3.2 million, but it's higher than in most of the 1990s.Overall, 15.9 million Americans older than the age of 12 reported using an illicit drug in the month before being interviewed for the survey. That amounts to 7.1 percent of that population group in 2001 vs. 6.3 percent in 2000. Use of the hallucinogen Ecstasy and abuse of the prescription painkiller Oxycontin both have more than tripled since 1998.The "good news," Thompson said, was a continuing decline in smoking among 12- to 17-year-olds. Their number is about one-third lower than it was in 1997.Note: Marijuana, cocaine, pain reliever abuse up; tobacco use down, government reports.Source: Associated Press Author: Sumana ChatterjeePublished: Friday, September 06, 2002Copyright: 2002 Associated Press Related Articles:National Survey Finds Increase in Drug Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14006.shtmlDrug Use Down -- But It Depends http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13033.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #14 posted by MikeEEEEE on September 07, 2002 at 22:24:29 PT The message, burp! "We have sent the wrong message and we have to correct that," Walters said. By spending more money on enforcement and propaganda. He should go back to drinking his alcohol and never ever direct anything more than traffic. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by karkulus on September 07, 2002 at 22:22:44 PT More fun than fun itself... I think we should all join the Air-Force and get wired-up on amphetamines and blast the shit out of some civilians..That's "good ol' boy harmful mechanical" FUN for Mr. Tommy Thompson! [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by cltrldmg on September 07, 2002 at 08:56:37 PT Wasting tax-money like this should be an offence.. What the hell are those statistics supposed to represent? Of course only 0.002% of people will admit to injecting an illegal drug. It doesn't take a genius to realise that it has nothing to do with the number of people using drugs. It seems to me that their only possible use is to measure the change in the number people who lie about using illegal drugs. If that figure increases all it tells us is that more people are taking these survey as a joke. Or that the people working for the ONDCP are still dangerously retarded. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 07, 2002 at 06:35:04 PT Marijuana IS safe and SHOULD be legal >>"We have sent the wrong message and we have to correct that," Walters said. Do you mean the message that it's OK to arrest and persecute people for their use of a plant? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by VitaminT on September 07, 2002 at 06:25:54 PT Hope & aocp & everyone else here's a little more fodder for those letters:Glen Hanson, acting director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a federal agency, said it is not clear whether students perceive a school to be ''drug free'' only because there are signs proclaiming drug-free zones. . . . . . . While lauding the improvements, Hanson cautioned that marijuana is still very easy to get at many schools. . . . . . .Since access to beer and cigarettes is restricted at the retail stage, Hanson said, youths have significant hurdles to obtaining them. . . . . . .''As far as marijuana is concerned, there is not any control there,'' he said. ''If you want it, you can get it. That is not good news.'' More Students Say Schools Drug Free [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on September 07, 2002 at 05:37:35 PT Fun, more fun, most fun, funner, funnest, funny Teens learn to make choices and they choose what they prefer. If they prefer not to smoke tobacco, and rather smoke a substance that will give them a little peace of mind, I really can't blame them. From the government's point of view, they could all be smoking tobacco (three packs a day), none of 'em smoking cannabis, and everything would be just fine and dandy. That would be the government's choice.People need a break now and then. Anyway, it's an economic depression out there. Who's fault is that? Corporate greed and corruption? The red ink inkwells are dry. I read an article at janes.com about specially equipped hightech vans patrolling the streets of Washington, DC. What are they looking for? Answer: New-klee-ur devices.Some folks take all this stuff way too seriously.So, if some teenagers find a way to escape from it all, more power to them.Really, what can you or I or the government do about it? Does the gov make anyone here happy; like they want to go out and have a little fun? Those gov folks aren't much fun, are they?Mr. Walters needs to go out and have some fun. He is taking this stuff way too seriously.These days, people are looking at their portfolios and saying, "Holy F-ing, sh-t, you have got to be sh-tting me."They need to go out and have some fun. Lighten up [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by The GCW on September 07, 2002 at 03:40:52 PT The best news. Tobacco use declined.When I say, they will squirm funny...Doing the flip flop, is in addition, to the squirm.The ignoids don't know which end of the dildo to insert, so they insert it sideways, and want Us to do the same.http://www.drugwarfacts.org/addictiv.htm, which shows nicotine is more addictive than heroin. Legal booze and cigarettes are choices way more addictive than cannabis.Citizens should be able to choose a less dangerous vice, than cigs or booze. How could real live doctors disagree with that? The message is that kids know smoking cigs is way more dangerous, to the ire of those who want that drug money from the cigs.I don't give the ignoids tax money for anything in My garden, I don't ask if it is ok to grow peas, lettuce, etc. I don't ask them their opinion about music, their choice about driving which car, and I do not ask them if I can use cannabis.I use cannabis with out paying the ignoids now, and once legal, I will use cannabis with out giving them a cut. If someone brews beer or makes wine, they don't pay a tax...And growing GREEN is as easy as it gets, compared to beer and wine.Eradicate ignoids not cannabis. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by bbbb on September 07, 2002 at 00:54:38 PT ..I'll second that Amen!... ....." Study: Illegal Drug Use Up Sharply"....I wonder how that compares to "legal" drug use?,,I'll betchya legal drug use is up even more sharply,,,and it's not too hard to see why!... Only idiots can sucessfully pretend that things are normal!,,so,,smart people need to escape somehow,some way......If you can afford it,,then you can get some wild mind-altering legal drugs from your doctors connections with the kingpin pharmaceutical dealers,,,but if you are barely able to afford to eat and buy gasoline to get to work,,,then your options are limited........personally,,I think that a sincere spiritual relationship with God,negates the need for mind altering substances....Marijuana is a plant that grows in the Earth,,,........Does anyone know where I can score some Paxil or Zoloft seeds? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Hope on September 07, 2002 at 00:11:18 PT aocp I hope you are writing some letters based on your observation. Thanks for pointing out the obvious...it hadn't really dawned on me. I'll be using that insight in some letters myself. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Hope on September 07, 2002 at 00:09:16 PT aocp..."Can I get an "Amen!!"?? You're right! in other words or word...Amen!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by legalizeit on September 06, 2002 at 22:45:42 PT Predictable release of Canada news I was checking my local Knight-Ridder paper to see if anything would be said about Canada's Senate recommendation for legalization.Sure enough, what little they said was tacked onto the end of a similar version of this Reefer Madness story. At least, it was "dove-tailed" into this story with a Canadian Senate statement refuting a Thompson statement about the tired gateway theory.The Canadian recommendation is so monumental that it deserves its own headline, and rightly got it in Canada's papers. However in good old DEAland, heaven forbid that a media outlet come out with something that so strongly hits at the heart of prohibition! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 06, 2002 at 21:59:53 PT Overtoke Does This Help Here's the one AP article that is by Tom Cohen. Canada Panel Wants Legal Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13983.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by overtoke on September 06, 2002 at 21:50:11 PT: Associated Press Where is the AP story that describes how the DEA and the entire prohibitionist mindset has been completely dumped in the toilet by the beloved Canadia Special Senate Committee. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by aocp on September 06, 2002 at 21:40:26 PT flip flop "Marijuana is not some harmless chemical toy but a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of all its users," said Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.And your system of regulation of this substance is beyond pathetic. Allow me to demOnstrate...yer words: The "good news," Thompson said, was a continuing decline in smoking among 12- to 17-year-olds. Their number is about one-third lower than it was in 1997.So, i can garner that legal and regulated tobacco use can be sharply declined without prohibition and in fact, outright glorifying and pimping? And even amongst children? Say it ain't so!!If this is in fact true, don't y'all think they're making more progress under an open system of regulation than under prohibitive policies? Can i get an 'AMEN!!'?? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment